


To endings and new beginnings

by galaxyeyedrops



Category: Kamen Rider Gaim
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 06:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2299994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyeyedrops/pseuds/galaxyeyedrops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything starts and ends with the shrine</p>
            </blockquote>





	To endings and new beginnings

_He's from the orphanage nearby_ , her parents say, _be nice to him_.

She tries. She smiles and introduces herself, finishing up with a neat bow.

She stretches out her hand, a handshake or high five, she doesn't know, but she's seen people do it on tv all the time. She's seen the other kids do it all the time.

But he just stares at her.

(Stares at her when she walks off in a huff, stares at her when she dances, only averting his eyes when she stares back.)

...

Kaito dances because he can, dances because he wants to prove himself better than everyone else, to crush them underfoot.

He dances because nobody else will ever dance there again.

He dances because while he wasn't a part of the shrine, he was there. He dances to mock Yggdrasil, plays his music and dances right in the middle of the city they ripped apart to recreate.

He fights because that honor will be his. He fights so that no one else may have it.

He stops dancing when he is a burden, stops when he is no longer needed. He stops dancing because she can honor the shrine on her own.

(But he never stops fighting.)

...

"I saw it," he says to her one day.

She waits. He clarifies.

"The tree. The one at the shrine."

There's a feeling, call it instinct, that she knows exactly where this is going.

"Yggdrasil?"

"Yes."

There's a look in his eyes, that urges her to continue, to say what she thinks happened.

"It's gone, isn't it?" She asks, after a moment's hesitation.

He nods. She exhales.

"Thanks, Kaito."

(There's a flicker of a stunned, completely stunned, expression that she treasures in the days to come.)

...

Despite him living at Gaim's garage, everyone is too used to him running off on his own, that they don't even question his absence when they wake up.

_All for the best_ , he knows.

His wound throbs, sending wave upon wave of pain at him. He grits his teeth, clenches his fists and walks on.

The lot is only a few miles walk from the garage.

Normally, that isn’t much. But in his condition (his incredibly weak, incredibly pathetic condition), it becomes a struggle, a challenge on par with any triathlon.

He’s still Kaito, though. So despite the roaming Invess, despite his pain, he still makes it.

It’s as empty as ever.

There are no people here, no Invess, barely any Helheim Fruit.

He rolls up his sleeve, takes out the bottle of water he carried here, and applies it liberally to the cut.

(There is no change. But, it’s not like he expected one in the first place.)

…

****  
  


They fight. Sword clashes against sword. Will against will.

They don’t stay still, because they never could. Their fight drags them across the city, from the riverside to a warehouse to the shrine.

(Or rather what used to be the shrine.)

They fight and she hates it.

She’s always been sick of being helpless, sick of being powerless, unable to really do anything.

She doesn’t hate Roshou, doesn’t even hate Professor Sengoku, because what they did left her with the ability to help out those who mattered to her.

(Admittedly, she once feared the idea of someone growing too powerful, but now she knows she’ll never be alone. She knows she’ll never be lonely.)

So, she uses her power.

She wants them to stop. They stop.

She wants them to listen. They listen.

(No matter how much they’ve changed, how much he’s changed, Mai knows that he respects power. That he respects her.)

…

It isn’t until she asks him to marry her that he brings it up.

He hands it to her, a fresh manilla envelope, filled with pictures and calculations and there are tears in her eyes, she’s smiling and hugging Kaito (who despite looking uncomfortable, doesn’t shrug her off).

She runs a finger down the photo of the lot (her shrine, _their_ shrine) and promptly runs off to call Kouta.

 


End file.
